Executive Function and the Developing Brain:
Implications for Education
Philip David Zelazo
Institute of Child Development
University of Minnesota
Executive Function
• One of a number of overlapping constructs:
Self regulation
Effortful control
Executive attention
Self control
Cognitive control
Fluid reasoning
Executive Function
• The brain processes involved in the topdown, goal-directed modulation of attention,
thought, emotion, motivation, and action
• Processes related to, but different from,
“intelligence”
– Using knowledge in service of goals
• Often discussed in terms of 3 facets:
– Cognitive flexibility
– Working memory
• Holding info in mind and working with it
– Inhibitory control
Miyake et al. (2000)
Interest in Development of EF
• Problems with EF are associated with psychiatric
disorders w/ child onset
– Conduct Disorder, autism, ADHD
• Specific problem beh’s such as aggression
Interest in Development of EF
• EF in childhood predicts key dev’l outcomes:
• Self and social understanding
– e.g., Carlson et al., 2004
• School readiness (early math and reading ability)
– e.g., Blair & Razza, 2007; Bull & Scerif, 2001
– Better than IQ
– Teachers say more important to sit still, pay attention, follow rules
• Rimm-Kaufmann, Pianta, Cox, 2000
• Predicts SAT scores (Shoda et al., 1990)
• Even predicts from preschool to middle age
– e.g., Casey et al., 2011
• EF in childhood
predicts outcomes at
age 32 y:
–
–
–
–
Physical health
Drug dependence
SES
Criminal convictions
– Controlling for SES,
IQ when a child
Moffitt et al. (2011)
EF is Modifiable thru Experience
• While stable individual differences (in part
because contexts remain stable), EF is
clearly malleable
• Develops (into adulthood) as the underlying
brain processes adapt to the environment
Executive Function in Everyday Life
• Although much of what we do is habitual, the
need for EF is pervasive
– We need EF to control attention/ behavior in social
contexts, avoid distractions, resist impulses
– To change our behavior (break habits)
• Dieting, exercise, etc.
– Essential for problem solving
Represent
Plan
Execute
intend/use
Evaluate
detect/correct
• EF failures can occur in any
phase— resulting in inflexibility,
rigidity
Represent
Plan
• EF refers to the processes that
make problem solving possible
Execute
Evaluate
Cognitive
flexibility
Working
memory
Represent
Plan
Execute
Inhibitory
control
Evaluate
Cognitive
flexibility
Theories of EF
explain EF in
terms of the
brain
Working
memory
Represent
Plan
Execute
Inhibitory
control
Evaluate
EF and the Brain
• Long known that EF depends importantly on
prefrontal cortex
– Front 1/3 brain
• Consequences of damage have informed our
characterization of EF since the 19th century
Phineas P. Gage, foreman working on the construction of railroad
track in VT. Accident on 13 Sept., 1848, during which a 3 ft
tamping iron was blown through his skull
Survived, but despite recovery of general cognitive functions…
Impairments in executive function
He was “…fitful, irreverent… devising many plans of
future operations, which are no sooner arranged than
they are abandoned in turn for others appearing
more feasible….” (Harlow, 1868)
“Dysexecutive” Syndrome
• Distractible hyperactivity
• Cognitive inflexibility
• Lack of self awareness
• Impulsivity
• “Environmental dependency”
• Lhermitte noted that PFC patients exhibit
stimulus-driven behavior (use objects reflexively)
– E.g., He had one patient who had been a nurse … he
casually arranged props in his office such as a
sphygmomanometer and tongue depressor. . .
From: Lhermitte (1986)
Development of Self Control During Childhood
• As any parent knows, childhood involves a
transformation
– From a relatively stimulus-bound, present-oriented
infant
• Distraction
– To a willful toddler
• Temper tantrum in check-out aisle
– To a preschooler able to think about other people’s
perspectives and plan for the future
• Plan their birthday party
But… the development of planning, inhibitory control, and
adaptive decision-making is a slow process, extending into
adolescence
Example of EF Measure
Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS)
Target Cards
Test Cards
Told to sort by shape
Target Cards
Test Cards
Told to switch and sort by color
Told rules on every trial
Basic Results
• Regardless of dimension order, 3-year-olds:
– Continue to sort by the first dimension (e.g.,
shape)
• Despite:
– Demonstrating knowledge of the new rules
– When asked, “Where do the red ones go?”
they’re correct
– “Where does this red one go?” they perseverate,
and sort by shape….
• By 4 years, most
children switch flexibly
• Like adults, seem to
know immediately that
they know 2 ways of
approaching the task
(i.e., they step back
and reflect on their
rules)
Reflection changes one’s
perspective, providing
“psychological distance” from a
situation
Just as physical distance provides
a panorama, psychological
distance
– shows us the range of possible responses
– allows us to select among them
Reflection is effortful, develops
into adulthood
NIH Toolbox
Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function
Opportunity to look at EF across the lifespan as part of
the NIH Toolbox project
For more information, please visit www.nihtoolbox.org
Richard C. Gershon, PhD, PI [email protected]
This study is funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the Blueprint for Neuroscience Research, National Institutes of Health under Contract No. HHS-N-260-200600007-C
Toolbox Objective
Develop standardized measures of cognitive, emotional,
sensory, & motor health and function that are:
Brief yet comprehensive
Reliable, and validated
Freely available and inexpensive to use
English & Spanish
Appropriate for longitudinal or intervention research
Suitable for participants ages 3-85 years
EF: 3 to 6 Years
7
6
Score
5
4
Flanker
3
DCCS
2
1
0
Age Group (yrs)
Zelazo et al., SRCD Mono
Flanker Test of Inhibitory Control and
Attention
– Feed the fish
– Indicate direction of middle fish/arrow
EF: 8 to 85 Years
Flanker
7.9
DCCS
7.7
Score
7.5
7.3
7.1
6.9
6.7
6.5
Age Group
Fits with what we know about the development of PFC
Gogtay et al., PNAS, 2004
Developmental Cognitive
Neuroscience
• The brain is an inherently adaptive organ, which
develops as it is used, in a continual interaction with
the environment
• Cognitive, emotional, behavioral tendencies as
skills that depend on the activation of specific
neural circuits
Neuroplasticity
• We grow our brains by using them
• We grow our brain in particular ways by using them in
particular ways
– Periods of relative plasticity
Plasticity during Preschool Period
– Period of rapid growth (adaptation to environment) suggests
window of opportunity (malleability) for top-down skills
– Also:
– Easier to build good habits when do not first need to break
bad habits
– Boost in EF prior to a sharp increase in demands placed on
children’s EF (i.e., kindergarten)
– Initiate a cascade of events: establish positive association to
school, > motivation to learn, good relationships w/ teachers,
reduce problem behaviors
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Heckman, 2006; Barnett, 2004
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Preschool Programs & Focal Training
• Programs address EF, or effects mediated by changes in EF
– Tools of the Mind (Leong, Bodrova)
– PATHs (Greenberg et al.)
– Chicago School Readiness Project (Raver et al.)
• Focal Training of EF
– Attention Network Task (Rueda, Posner, Rothbart et al.)
– CogMed (Klingberg et al.)
– Redescription training on DCCS (Kloo & Perner)
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Effective EF Interventions
• Engage children in motivated, goal-directed activity
• Require reflection (stepping back, considering)
• Continually challenge children’s skills
– Increasing levels of difficulty
• Involve lots of practice
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Reflection Training
– Practice stepping back,
reflecting, formulating a higherorder rule
– “Oops. When you saw the red
one, you pressed the button with
red on it, that means you looked
at the color… Now, we are
playing the shape game - the
game with boat and rabbit.”
DCCS: 3-year-olds tend to perseverate
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
• 3 experiments, kids who failed DCCS:
training improved performance, generalized
(e.g., theory of mind)
Espinet, Anderson, Zelazo, 2013, DCN
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
• Reflection training 
changes in brain activity
during the task
• Trained children not only
did better, but their neural
responses now looked like
those of older children
Photo: Electrical Geodesics Inc.
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Summary
• Even a brief intervention aimed at teaching
children to reflect on the task and formulate
higher-order rules leads to improvement on
DCCS
• Improvement also seen in flexible perspective
taking, and in neural activity
Who Can Benefit?
• Anyone, but reasons to focus on young
• Children at risk
– Working with Masten, Carlson to promote EF in
preschool children who are currently homeless
– Embedded lab with onsite preschool
– 3-week curriculum
MATH for 26,474 students (2005-2009)
76th
General 25%
Math score
Norm & RPM 4%
79th
18th percentile avg score
Free meals 57%
HHM 14%
th
12
Cutuli et al. (2012)
Child Development
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
EF Skills Predict School Success
0.5
0.46
Executive Function
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
-0.33
-0.5
Resilient
Maladaptive
Resilient
Maladaptive
Group
Group
Obradovic 2010
Masten et al 2012
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
• May be missing the structure and teaching
moments that advantaged children commonly
receive
• Exposed to prolonged, “toxic” stress
– Bottom-up influence that undermines EF
• For adequate assessment and training of EF,
need to help children calm down, focus
A Related Intervention: Mindfulness
Mindfulness may be an ideal
intervention for promoting EF:
Trains sustained reprocessing
while also creating conditions
conducive to reflection
Reducing stress (< cortisol)
Increasing openness and
curiosity (> dopamine)
Mindfulness in Kids
• Johnson, Forston, & Zelazo (2013)
• Children (N = 20, M = 4.5 years) randomly
assigned to:
– Mindfulness condition
– Active control condition
• Learning new songs, reading stories, etc.
• Ten 20-min sessions (2/week), tested pre- and
post by “blind” examiner (Time 1 and Time 2)
Mindfulness Exercises (Examples)
• Calming down, reflecting on subjective experience,
sustaining reflective attention, empathy
• Breathing with stuffed animal on abdomen
• Listen to bell fade, raise hands when can’t hear
• Feeling of body parts as “scanned” with hula-hoop
• Jumping in sync to the sound of a drum beat
Outcome Measures
• Inhibitory Control/Attention: Flanker
– indicate direction of middle stim
• Self and Social Understanding (“theory of mind”)
Flanker Total Accuracy
p < .05
Mindfulness
Control
ToM Score (0-5)
p < .05
Mindfulness
Control
Summary
• Brief mindfulness intervention with preschool age
children was well tolerated by children and instructors
• Effects are promising, extend to perspective taking
• Larger RCT of this curriculum, funded by the Character
Lab and KiPP Schools, currently being conducted
More Intensive Intervention
•
•
•
•
•
Eighteen 4.5-y-olds
2-week “Mindfulness Camp,” yoga studio
Eight 45-minute parent-child classes
Daily homework activity
No-treatment control (age, sex match)
Johnson, Lyons, Forston, & Zelazo
Flanker
Acc/RT Composite
7
6.5
6
MM
C
5.5
5
4.5
4
Pre
Post
Emotional Go/No-Go: No-Go Trials
65
Percent Correct
Percent Correct
65
55
45
35
25
Pre
Post
Neutral No-Go
55
45
MM
C
35
25
Pre
Post
Affective No-Go
Summary
• Reflection is key dimension in development
• Reflection is malleable (sensitive period)
• Reflection training improves EF and ToM,
changes neural activity
• Mindfulness training also effective
– Flanker, ToM, Go-Nogo
• Reflection & mindfulness complementary?
• Consequences are potentially far-reaching
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Summary
• EF is malleable, perhaps especially during the
preschool years
• We grow our brains by using them in particular
ways
• Training improves EF, changes neural activity
• Consequences are potentially far-reaching
The INSTITUTE OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Acknowledgements
Colleagues
Wil Cunningham, PhD (Toronto),
Silvia Bunge, PhD (UC Berkeley)
Doulgas Frye, PhD (Penn)
Stephanie Carlson (Minn)
Ann Masten (Minn)
Students
Stacey Espinet, MA (Toronto)
Jacob Anderson, MA (Minn)
Anna Johnson, MA (Minn)
Catherine Ortner, PhD (Thompson Rivers)
Kristy Lyons, PhD (Metro State Denver)
Philip David Zelazo, PhD
Nancy M. & John E. Lindahl Professor
Institute of Child Development
University of Minnesota
[email protected]
www.education.umn.edu/icd/faculty/Zelazo.html